


folded page corners

by winterheats



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Bookstore AU, M/M, and doyoung being a sneaky little flirt back, jaehyun being a sneaky little flirt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-25
Updated: 2017-07-25
Packaged: 2018-12-06 01:00:01
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,105
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11589771
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/winterheats/pseuds/winterheats
Summary: what happens when doyoung tries to get the last copy of a book from an attractive stranger





	folded page corners

Fast walking through crowds of people at the mall, Doyoung listed all the things in his head that had heavily occupied his mind these past two weeks.

He had finals, an internship interview, preparations to move out of his dorm, preparations to move into his new apartment, as well as his part time job as a lab assistant at his school’s Bio department.

It was no wonder he wasn’t able to keep tabs on the final installment of his favorite book series being released today. The combination of the series being a best seller and the fact that he lived in a well populated city didn’t leave him with much faith that he’d be able to snag himself a copy. It was almost noon and he was clinging onto the hope that the bookstore would be heavily stocked, considering it was release day.

“Of course,” Doyoung says to himself as he stares blankly at the empty shelf before him.

He turned around to the worker stocking a shelf of books behind him. “Excuse me, but do you guys have any more copies in the back?”

Doyoung had a thumb pointed to the shelf behind him as the worker turned in Doyoung’s direction. “Oh, that? Sorry, man, but we’re all sold out. We’ll actually be sold out for the next two weeks.”

Doyoung’s jaw dropped. “You’re kidding.”

“I wish I was. I’ve had to deal with at least twenty more versions of you today, some of them quite verbally aggressive.” Doyoung didn’t quite know what the worker meant by that, but he didn’t ponder upon it any longer.

“The publisher fucked up - pardon my language - but they fucked up and so no one won’t be getting another shipment for two weeks. All that was put on everyone’s shelves today is all that’ll be available for the next two weeks.”

Doyoung sighed then pouted. The worker pushed his cart of books and left Doyoung alone in front of the empty book shelf.

“Oh my god,” said a voice near him.

A boy who looked about the same age as Doyoung stood holding what he assumed was the last copy of the book he wanted. The boy looked like he had started reading the book and his facial expressions seemed to indicate that what he had started reading was shocking.

He didn’t look like the type of person Doyoung would normally see in a bookstore. He was a bit taller than Doyoung, blessed with nice body proportions. He wore a blue snapback backwards with thin wired rounded specs, a slightly tucked in black long sleeve button down that had a deep v exposing the top of his chest, and black denim jeans with rips at the knees, paired with some adidas superstars. It was an interesting selection of pieces the boy put together for an outfit, but Doyoung admired how he pulled it off.

Doyoung, on the other hand, could not be bothered to be as selective that morning when it came to his outfit, as he was trying to head out the door as fast as he could. He layered a thin navy button down, unbuttoned, over a green and white striped t-shirt with dark washed jeans that gave Doyoung’s long legs some air to breathe. He recently got into sandals and today he wore a black pair that had a strap going around the ankles. He was never the type to follow current fashion trends.

Bringing his attention back to the man standing a couple feet away, he strategized on how he was going to approach the stranger. Doyoung liked to believe that he was a pretty friendly and sociable person, so he just decided to go straight for it. Taking a couple steps forward, Doyoung asked, “Excuse me?”

The boy looked up from his book to Doyoung. “Yes?”

His voice was deep, not too deep, but there was a thickness to it that Doyoung liked. “I’m sorry to ask, but is that the last copy?” The boy looked back at his book, “Oh, this? Yeah! I was surprised no one had got it by the time I arrived!”

Doyoung made an “o” shape with his mouth then asked, “If you don’t mind me asking, but when did you arrive?” The boy pulled out his phone from his back pocket and checked the time. “About ten minutes ago?”

 _Fuck_ , Doyoung thought to himself. Had he woken up earlier and gotten ready faster, maybe he wouldn’t be in this situation right now. But he couldn’t do anything about that now. What he could do was try to charm his way into getting the boy to let him have the copy, which he thought would be easy since it seemed like he wasn’t gonna buy it in anyway.

 

 

 

If only Doyoung would learn to quit judging books by its covers, he wouldn’t have assumed that the stranger wasn’t going to buy the book, when in fact, he originally planned on it all along. Luck just happened to be on the other boy’s side that morning; the same couldn’t be said for Doyoung.

“What do you mean you’re buying the book?”

The stranger let out a small laugh. “That’s exactly what I mean: I’m buying the book.”

Doyoung furrowed his brows. He wasn’t aware but the stranger found it cute how Doyoung’s face was expressive with his frustration.

“Have you even read the entire series?”

The stranger gave Doyoung a questioned look. “Of course, otherwise I wouldn’t be standing here with a copy of this book in my hand.”

Doyoung was taken aback at the stranger’s admission. “You have?”

The stranger nodded. “Like I said, I wouldn’t be here if I hadn’t, now would I?”

If Doyoung wasn’t in such a mood he would find the stranger’s ability to challenge him as a turn on, but now was not the time to let his dick be in control of his actions.

“Look, you probably have a lot on your plate. You look like the sociable type, am I right? You probably have a lot of friends and plans. Where’ll you ever find the time to even read that?” There went Doyoung’s plan of charming the stranger out the window.

He half expected the boy to be mad but instead he just smiled back.

 _God, those dimples_. Why. Doyoung was clearly at war with himself.

“Um, what I do with my time is none of your business. Now if you don’t mind, I’ll be making my way to the checkout.” The stranger began walking away, his chin held high.

“Wait!” Doyoung called out. “I’ll pay you double for that book!”

He regretted the words as soon as they left his mouth but he was hoping it’d work.

The boy turned around, giving Doyoung a suspicious look. A second later, his face lit up as if a light bulb was above his head. “Or….”

The stranger began walking toward him, stopping when they were about arms length apart. “I could proceed with buying the book, you give me your number, and I let you know when I’m done with it so I can let you read it.”

Doyoung scoffed immediately without having fully processed what the other boy said. It took him a moment for him to respond.

“That sounds like a great offer! However, I’m the type to like having my own copies of books.” Yeah, the stranger’s attempt at flirting went completely over Doyoung’s head.

“Well, lucky for you, I’m not. I was gonna let you keep the copy after I was done reading it.”

Doyoung hesitated before saying something, then finally spoke. “Hold on...what was the point of buying the book yourself if you weren’t even gonna keep it?!”

The boy smiled at him again, this time not in the charming way with his teeth, but with his lips together, causing his face to appear more rounder and his eyes to squint more.

 _Great_ , Doyoung thought, _not only can he be attractive as fuck, but he can also be the cutest thing I’ve ever fucking seen._

“I was, but then you came along and I thought, ‘wouldn’t it have been a complete waste if I just left the store, book in hand, without having gotten your number? Or at least your name?’”

Doyoung did not to expect to be thrown that curveball. Yeah, he found the boy to be super good looking and his type (if he even had a type at all), but he didn’t think that the stranger would be into Doyoung as much as Doyoung was trying to deny how into the stranger he was. “I-” He was truly speechless.

“This is my dick talking,” which was a lie, Doyoung knew in his heart that he wanted this, whatever ‘this’ was, as much as his dick, “but fine, I’ll give you my number.” Doyoung took out his phone, opened the Phone app then handed his phone over to the boy, who quickly typed in his number and name then returned the phone. “Jaehyun?” Doyoung said. The contact name read ‘Jung Jaehyun.’ “That’s a nice name.”

“Thanks,” Jaehyun replied with a smile, dimples out again. Doyoung felt attacked.

“And you are?”

Doyoung forgot that he hadn’t introduced himself. “Doyoung! Kim Doyoung! Sorry about that.”

Jaehyun offered out his hand for Doyoung to shake, “Nice to meet you, Doyoung.”

“It’s a pleasure to meet you too, Jaehyun,” Doyoung said, taking Jaehyun’s hand and shaking it.

They had gotten used to bickering the past couple minutes that finally finding common ground felt a little awkward and foreign.

“Alright, I’m gonna go pay for this.”

Once again, Jaehyun was about to walk towards the register when Doyoung called out for him again. “What now?” Jaehyun whined.

“Don’t take too long.” Doyoung then smiled real big. “Please.”

“Don’t worry. The sooner I finish this the sooner I have a reason to see you.”

 _This Jaehyun boy, just. Wow._ Doyoung could play this game with Jaehyun all day long. “Who says you need a reason to see me?”

Jaehyun rolled his eyes. “I’ll see you,” he walked away with an embarrassed smile across his face.

Doyoung entered the bookstore with a mission to get a copy of the book he was desperately waiting an entire year for and was now leaving with no book, but instead, the satisfaction in having exchanged numbers with someone as perfect as Jung Jaehyun.

 

  
_five months later_

Beads of sweat formed on Doyoung’s forehead as he stirred his pot of ramen. He was making lunch for him and his boyfriend, Jaehyun.

Within the span of a couple months, the pair grew closer as they shared the love they had for books with each other. Between the two of them, they shared a personal library. Whenever Doyoung was over at Jaehyun’s apartment, he’d end up leaving with a book from Jaehyun’s collection that he hadn’t read before, and vice versa. Today, Jaehyun was returning a book of Doyoung’s and coming over for lunch.

As Doyoung was satisfied with his ramen, his phone buzzed.

_i’m outside_

The timing couldn’t have been more right.

Doyoung turned off the stove and put a lid on the pot, then made his way to the front door to open it.

Jaehyun stood before him, book in one hand and a small tub of ice cream in the other. “What’s with the ice cream?” Doyoung asked.

“It was on sale.” _Of course._

Doyoung’s eyes shifted from the tub of ice cream to the book in his hand. He was about to invite Jaehyun in when something caught his eye. “Jaehyun. What is that?” Doyoung held Jaehyun’s wrist up, bringing the hand with the book closer to Doyoung’s eyes.

On the front cover of the paperback, there was a crisp fold that went straight down the middle. Doyoung grabbed the book and flipped the pages. Every couple or so pages showed signs of its corner being folded at some point.

“Jaehyun. We’ve been going out for how long and you still don’t know how I feel about maintaining the condition of my books?”

Jaehyun said nothing but smiled from ear to ear, cheeks filling up and rounding out the shape of his face, his eyes also appearing as if they were slightly closed.

The frown Doyoung had on his face faded, and turned into a smirk. “Ugh, get in here already,” the older said as he pulled Jaehyun into his apartment. Doyoung closed the door behind him and started giving Jaehyun soft kisses all over his face, giving into his natural cuteness and completely forgetting about the bent cover and folded page corners. 

**Author's Note:**

> [twitter](https://twitter.com/offsynth)


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